Central projections of the stretch receptor neurons of crayfish: structure, variation, and postembryonic growth

Journal ArticleEach stretch receptor neuron (SR) of the crayfish abdomen projects from its peripherally located soma an axon that enters the CNS through the second nerve (N2) of its segmental ganglion. CoZ+ backfills of N2 revealed that this axon bifurcates, sending one branch to the brain and the other to the terminal abdominal ganglion

Central projections of the stretch receptor neurons of crayfish: segmental gradients of synaptic probability and strength

Journal ArticleThe 20 stretch receptor neurons (SRs) of the crayfish abdomen send axons into the CNS that then project both to the brain and to the last abdominal ganglion, G6 (Bastiani and Mulloney, 1988). In G6, we recorded intracellularly from different kinds of neurons postsynaptic to SR axons

A classic improved: minor tweaks yield major benefits in crayfish slow-flexor preparations.

Action potentials and the postsynaptic potentials they evoke fill the pages of neuroscience textbooks, but students have relatively few opportunities to record these phenomena on their own. However, the act of making such recordings can be key events in a student's scientific education. The crayfish abdominal slow flexor muscle system is a well-established platform for recording spikes and PSPs. It enables students to see nerves and the muscles they innervate, record spontaneous spikes from several motor axons in these nerves as well as PSPs in their postsynaptic muscle fibers, and interpret these recordings quantitatively. Here we describe an improved method for preparing the slow-flexor system for recording that employs transmitted illumination through the stereo microscope's conventional substage lighting. Oblique transmitted lighting allows students to see the nerve and muscles fibers in each segment clearly and position recording electrodes accurately under visual control. Because students can see the nerves, muscles, and recording electrodes, broken electrode tips are relatively uncommon and the first successful recordings come more quickly. Many kinds of neurons in the CNS have the same pattern of multineuronal, multiterminal innervation that occurs on these muscle fibers. To visualize these innervation patterns on these fibers, we describe an immunohistochemical protocol that labels the GABAergic inhibitory motor axon and all the synaptic vesicles in the synaptic terminals on these muscle fibers. Dual-color images reveal extensive branching of the axons and fields of presynaptic terminals, only some of which are double-labeled for GABA

Optical System Design and Integration of the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Lidar

The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) instrument was designed, built, and tested in-house at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center and launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 5, 2018. GEDI is a multi-beam waveform LiDAR (light detection and ranging) designed to measure the Earths global tree height and canopy density using 8 laser beam ground tracks separated by roughly 600 meters. Given the ground coverage required and the 2 year mission duration, a unique optical design solution was developed. GEDI generates 8 ground sampling tracks from 3 transmitter systems viewed by a single receiver telescope, all while maximizing system optical efficiency and transmitter to receiver boresight alignment margin. The GEDI optical design, key optical components, and system level integration and testing are presented here. GEDI began 2 years of science operations in March 2019 and so far, it is meeting all of its key optical performance requirements and is returning outstanding science